HV 8378 
.C4 A7 
1922a 
Copy 1 



The Cook County Jail Survey 



A Summary by 
FRANK D. LOOMIS 



THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST 



THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST 

10 South La Salle Street, Suite 1340, 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



COMMITTEE 

Clifford W. Barnes, Chairman 

Trustee, Estate of Simon Reid 

E. J. Buffington 

President, Illinois Steel Cd. 

Charles S. Cutting 

Former Judge of the Probate Court 
Cook County- 
Abel Davis 
Vice President, Chicago Title & Trust Co. 

Bernard A. Eckhart 

President, B. A. Eckhart Milling Co. 

ADVISORY COUNCIL 

J. Ogden Armour Orrin N. Carter James B. Forgan 

Albert W. Harris Edmund D. Hurlbert Morton D. Hull 

Charles H. Markham John J. Mitchell James A. Patten 

Frederick H. Rawson George M. Reynolds John G. Shedd 



Frank D. Loomis, Secretary 



BUREAU OF SURVEYS AND EXHIBITS 

MRS. KENNETH F. RICH, DIRECTOR 

ADVISORY COMMITTEE 

Prof. Robert E. Park Miss Edith Abbott 

Joel D. Hunter Miss Edna Foley 

Wilfred S. Reynolds Alfred C. Meyer 

Dr. A. C. Warner 



THE 

COOK COUNTY JAIL SURVEY 

Made on request of 
THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 

By 
THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST 



Summarized by 

FRANK D. LOOMIS 

Secretary of the Community Trust 



Published by 
THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST 



,1 






Copyright. 1922, by 
THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST 



.. : ; 



FOREWORD 

The complete report of the Cook County Jail 
Survey is a lengthy document, by no means unin- 
teresting, even for the average reader, but requir- 
ing more time than the person busy with other 
matters may feel he or she can give it. There has 
been demand for a briefer statement of the 
results of the survey, a demand which this Sum- 
mary will attempt to satisfy. 

There is no pretense that the material here 
presented is original. The writer has culled 
freely from the entire report, taking sentences or 
parts of sentences, as best seemed to suit the pur- 
pose in view, without attempt to indicate quota- 
tions unless this also seemed to suit the purpose. 
The material of the report has been often 
rearranged and of course very much condensed 
in order to present in a brief document a fair 
review of facts and conclusions which in the origi- 
nal statements required many pages. For the 
order in which the matter is here presented and 
for the fairness of the review the writer must 
accept full responsibility. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

FOREWORD . 5 

PURPOSE AND METHOD OF THE SURVEY 

THE STAFF OF THE SURVEY . 9 

THE PROBLEM OF THE COUNTY JAIL 10 



PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE JAIL, HEALTH AND 

LIVING CONDITIONS 11 



TEMPORARY EXPEDIENTS RECOMMENDED FOR DETEN- 
TION OF MEN AND BOYS 14 

DETENTION OF THE WOMAN OFFENDER... 16 

STATISTICS OF CRIME AND DETENTION— HOW LARGE A 

JAIL IS NEEDED IN COOK COUNTY 20 



CHARACTER OF THE JAIL POPULATION— WHAT KIND OF 

A JAIL IS NEEDED IN COOK COUNTY 23 



CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 25 



SUMMARY OF THE COOK COUNTY JAIL SURVEY 



PURPOSE AND METHOD OF THE SURVEY 

For many years there has been agitation for a new jail 
in Cook County. The present "new jail," built in 1895, was 
scarcely completed before it was condemned. By 1910, both 
the "old" and the "new" jails, operated as one unit, had 
become as crowded as the old one had been alone before 
the new one was built to relieve the overcrowding, and the 
International Prison Congress, meeting here in that year, 
with representatives of wide reputation from many countries, 
condemned the whole structure as one of the worst jails to 
be found anywhere. 

Since 1914, four different proposals for bond issues for a 
new jail have been submitted to the voters. Each proposal 
has been defeated — for the reason principally, it is believed, 
that in connection with these various proposals no definite 
plans were presented. There was a wide-spread feeling that a 
new deal was needed- — that it would be useless waste of money 
and of human material to go on indefinitely under the old pol- 
icy of building ever larger jails, to be promptly filled up as 
soon as the new space was available. Upon the failure of the 
fourth bond-issue-proposal in the Spring of 1921, the demand 
for a careful survey of the situation became insistent, and 
when the "Site Committee," appointed to recommend a suit- 
able site for a new jail, brought to the County Commissioners, 
in January, 1922, a recommendation that the Chicago Com- 
munity Trust be first asked to make a survey, the County 
Commissioners promptly and unanimously accepted it. 

The Community Trust is a charitable foundation which 
receives gifts in trust and uses the income for philanthropic 
purposes. It is a non-partisan, non-political body, operating 
in the broadest sense for the good of the community and 
well fitted to conduct an impartial study of any com- 
munity enterprise. The formal request from the County 
Commissioners was promptly and carefully considered and 
after some inquiry as to the cost and the possibilities of con- 
ducting an adequate study, the responsibility was accepted. 

The Community Trust was fortunate in being able to 
secure as director of the survey, Mr. George W. Kirchwey, 



L.L.D., for many years Dean of the Columbia University 
Law School, warden, for a time, of Sing Sing Prison, New 
York, and internationally known as a practical criminolo- 
gist. He had as his immediate assistants Mr. Winthrop D. 
Lane, of New York, an experienced investigator of jails, maga- 
zine writer and author of a number of books on the subject; 
Mrs. Kenneth F. Rich, director of the Community Trust's 
"Bureau of Surveys" and a specialist in protective work 
for girls ; and a number of local experts, as indicated in the 
accompanying "Staff of the Survey," who were eminently 
qualified to investigate the various subjects assigned them 
and who generously donated their services. 

Work was begun early in February and was completed 
early in July, the formal report being presented to the 
County Commissioners on July 10th. The complete report 
consisted of more than three hundred type-written pages and 
has been printed by the County Board, both in its volume 
of regular proceedings and in separate pamphlet form for 
local distribution. 

The cost of the survey to the Community Trust was 
approximately eight thousand dollars — a very low amount, 
as the cost of such surveys generally go, made possible 
through the generous help received from many sources. 



CONSIDER THE JAIL 

"This survey, undertaken by the Chicago Com- 
munity Trust at the request of the Board of Com- 
missioners of Cook County, was determined in its plan 
and scope by the terms of the resolution authorizing it. 

This resolution, adopted by the Board on January 
1 6, 1 922, invited "a survey of the entire existing situa- 
tion" involved in the proposal for the erection of a new 
county jail and specified, as factors in that situation, 
"the question of just what classes of prisoners shall be 
there incarcerated, along with the problem of whether 
or not provision that is not now afforded can be made 
for certain classes of prisoners." 

It was to be a new kind of inquiry, one that should 
go to the root of the jail problem." 

— Introduction to Survey. 



STAFF OF THE SURVEY 



George W. Kirchwey, L.L.D., Director 



Physical and Living Conditions in the Jail 

MR. WINTHROP D. LANE. 

Health and Medical Conditions 
R. B. PREBLE, M. D., and JOSEPH L. MILLER, M. D. 

Diet and Food Conditions 
COMMITTEE OF CHICAGO DIETETIC ASSOCIATION 

Detention of the Woman Offender 
MRS. KENNETH F. RICH 

Disposal of Surplus Population 
MR. JOHN L. WHITMAN 

Statistics of Crime in Chicago 
MISS EDITH ABBOTT 

Character Study of Jail Population 
MR. A. L. BEELEY 

Study of Jail Records 
MRS. RICH and MR. BEELEY 

ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON JAIL SURVEY 

Miss Edith Abbott Prof. E. W. Burgess Judge Harry A. Olson 

Dr. Herman M. Adler Henry Barrett Chamberlin Judge Hugo Pam 

Miss Jessie F. Binford Chas. E. Merriam Prof. Robert E. Park 

Supt. John L. Whitman 
Prof. Robt. H. Gault (Chmn.) 

ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON WOMAN OFFENDER 

Miss Edith Abbott Miss Jessie F. Binford Mrs. Joseph S. Meyer 

Miss Lillian Adler Miss Harriet J. Comstock Miss Harriet Vittum 

Mrs. Lynn A. Williams 



THE PROBLEM OF THE COUNTY JAIL 

"The Cook County Jail is not a place of punishment. It 
is a place of detention for persons, innocent and guilty, who 
are under suspicion of having committed criminal offenses 
and who are unable to secure bail. Whatever the practice 
may be, that, at least, is the theory. This is the significant 
fact which furnishes the clue to any study of the jail 
prdblem." 

In actual practice, Dr. Kirchwey finds in the introduction 
to the survey, the Cook County Jail is used principally only 
as a place of detention. But it "has just enough convicted 
offenders to keep alive the evil tradition that a jail is a place 
of punishment. Being a place of punishment for a few, it 
becomes and remains a place of punishment for all, irrespec- 
tive of age, or guilt, or breeding, or character." The state 
of public opinion with respect to the jail population is one 
of the greatest jail problems. 

To this problem of the popular misconception of the pur- 
pose of a jail is added a problem of overcrowding in the 
Cook County Jail so serious as to intensify all the evils of 
the common jail and add new and more menacing ones. The 
"old jail," erected in 1874, had individual cells for 136 per- 
sons. The "new jail" added 180 cells. "It is fashionable," 
Dr. Kirchwey says, "to measure the normal capacity of the 
jail by multiplying the number of cells by two ; but this is 
absurd. No sane person builds cells for two persons. There 
are reasons for this which need not be gone into here but 
which every jail builder knows. 

"The jail population in the Cook County Jail in 1921, 
reached the maximum of 1013 inmates on a single day. There 
were ten days when the population was 1,000 and upwards; 
72 days when the population went above 950 ; 112 days 
when it exceeded 900; 195 days when it stood above 850; 
293 days when it numbered upwards of 750 ; and 359 days 
when it went above 700." For a large part of the year many 
of the cells had to be occupied by five men. Three and four 
in a cell is common. 

The statistics of daily population do not begin to measure 
the extent of the evil which results from these conditions of 
overcrowding. In the year 1921, there were 10,642 men 
and women, boys and girls who were subjected to these 
degrading conditions for varying periods of weeks or months. 



PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE JAIL, 
HEALTH AND LIVING CONDITIONS. 

"The Cook County Jail," Mr. Lane says, "is an over- 
crowded, insanitary, disease-breeding- place." Into its cells 
ten feet long, five feet wide and seven and a half feet high, 
providing air-space a third less than is considered sufficient 
for one human being, entirely closed on three sides and top 
and bottom, with one end opening onto a dimly-lighted, 
poorly ventilated corridor — into these are crowed two, three, 
four and sometimes five persons who must spend twenty 
hours a day there for a period of probably four months. 
Exercise is allowed four hours a day in "bull-pens," also 
dimly lighted, poorly ventilated, and overcrowded. During 

the exercise periods "the inmates as they stand and circulate 
about the bull-pen spit on the floor until it becomes too filthy 
to bear description. The congestion is so great that a man 
can hardly move without touching his neighbor. Exercise 
worthy of the name is utterly impossible." 

The cell is the man's living room, dining room and bed- 
room. The beds are slung from the side of the wall, like 
bunks, protruding out into the cell during the daytime and 
taking up half of the space. Here and there about the cell, 
string has been strung up as a place for drying towels, 
shirts and other bits of clothing which the men have washed 
in the cell. Men lie on the bed, read, talk, write letters 
crouched on the lower bunk, with their shoulders hunched 
forward to escape the upper hunk, and spend the time as 
best they can. No useful activity or work is permitted in 
the cells. 

Food for Thought 

Food is passed into the men through slits in the bars. 
The food served is heavy, unappetizing and often indigestible. 
Breakfast consists solely of a large cup of coffee and bread 
or a single roll or "duffer." The mid-day meal, which follows 
a planned weekly rotation : That is, the same food is served 
every Monday, the same every Tuesday, etc., consists prin- 
cipally of stews or corned-beef and cabbage or hash or fish, 
white beans, potatoes or carrots. Supper consists either of 
a kind of soup or of coffee and bread. No sugar, butter or 
butter substitutes are served. Such food, in the opinion of 
the committee of the Chicago Dietetic Association, does not 
furnish a balanced diet. It lacks fat, it lacks sugar, it lacks 
vitamines. It is much too heavy a diet for persons having 
so little opportunity for physical exercise, andi produces 
constant digestive troubles. 



There is an enormous waste of this jail food, it being- 
estimated that between two and three tons every week are 
thrown into the garbage, which is given to some concern 
that carts it away and uses it. 

Private Concessions 

The "Jail Store," operating under a private concession, 
does a thriving business, however. This "store" is apparently 
operated at very small cost, most of the help being furnished 
by jail inmates free, but prices charged the prisoners are 
high. It is estimated that many of the prisoners spend from 
$3.00 to $6.00 a week each for extras from the store. Some 
food is also brought in by friends from the outside. 

An outside barber has a concession in the jail. He has 
three chairs and he and his assistants are busy nearly every 
morning; the charge for a shave is fifteen cents, for a hair- 
cut thirty-five; his expenses are small. What the barber 
pays for his concession is not known. 

Among the sixty-one guards at the jail there are men of 
various sorts, some who seem well equipped to perform 
their duties intelligently and some who are not. The method 
of appointing guards does not seem well calculated to secure 
good men. They are said to be appointed by the sheriff 
after nominations have been made to him by ward committee- 
men. The pay of guards at present is $149.00 a month. 

Health Conditions are Such 

Health conditions in the jail are such that the special 
committee of physicians, consisting of Doctor R. B. Preble 
and Doctor Joseph L. Miller, after a careful examination, 
declare "that the county authorities have conspicuously 
failed to perform their duty." "The foul air resulting from 
overcrowding of the poorly ventilated cells and bull-pens ; 
the all but complete lack of physical exercise and recreation 
for weeks and months at a stretch ; the absence of occupa- 
tion for mind and body and the inevitable contagion result- 
ing from such close contact cannot but result in an almost 
universal deterioration of vitality and an impairment of 
physical health." 

The physical examination of newly received prisoners is 
conducted in a very perfunctory manner. On one occasion 
recently, when the method of entrance examination was being 
observed by a member of the survey staff, forty-two men 
were examined by a single physician in thirteen minutes, 
part of this time being consumed by the examiner in filling 



out the prisoners' record cards. On the basis of this brief 
examination, however, the examiner filled out each man's 
card for scabies, syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, condition 
of the heart, condition of the lungs and general physical 
condition. No doubt many cases of active pulmonary tuber- 
culosis or other infectious diseases are placed in cells with 
healthy prisoners. There is no adequate provision for fumi- 
gating or sterilizing the clothing to destroy vermin or disease- 
producing germs. The sheets on the cots of the receiving 
wing of the jail are changed only once a week so that the 
same sheets may be used five or six times by a succession of 
incoming prisoners. 

"Hospital B" 

No provision is made for re-examination of prisoners. 
Those with minor complaints are given pills or powders 
by a prisoner assigned to the dispensary. Serious cases of 
illness are treated by the prison physician in the "hospital," 
usually "Hospital B" — a room approximtely forty by twelve 
feet, constructed by walling off a part of one of the bull- 
pens. "The ceiling is low. There is no outside light. The 
room is damp, most uncomfortable and unsanitary." There 
is no provision for the isolation of contagious diseases nor 
for the care of suspected mental cases. Prisoners with 
apparent mental disorders, who show a tendency to be violent, 
are confined in the ordinary cells of the jail alone. Drug 
addiction among the inmates is very common. 



HOW TEN THOUSAND PRISONERS LIVE AND 
LEARN IN THE COOK COUNTY JAIL 

"They live in idleness at the expense of the tax- 
payer. 

They learn vice, immorality and crime. 

They become educated in criminal ways. 

They degenerate both physically and morally. 

It is most important that we deal rightly with jail 
prisoners if we would lessen rather than increase the 
number of offenders." 

— Amos W. Butler, 
Secretary Board of State Charities, Indiana. 



There is little attempt at the grouping or classification 
of prisoners according to their individual needs. "The first 
offender is confined with the man or woman whose prison 



sentences outrun memory in num'ber. The uneducated are 
housed with the graduates of professional and technical 
schools. Painters, steam-fitters, photographers and railway- 
conductors are confined with physicians, restaurant-keepers, 
detectives, clerks and telegraph operators. Men with the 
broken accent of Italy and Turkey occupy cells side by side 
with native-born, English-speaking Americans. The Con- 
fucian even finds himself open to argument with the Baptist 
and the Christian-Scientist." Colored prisoners are kept 
together as, to some extent, are younger offenders also, 
and there is an attempted segregation of drug addicts and 
venereal cases. 

TEMPORARY EXPEDIENTS RECOMMENDED FOR 
DETENTION OF MEN AND BOYS 

In the course of the survey various recommendations are 
made for the improvement of conditions in the present Jail. 
The committee of dietitians, for instance, present in detail 
a menu which would be vastly more heathful for prisoners 
than the present unbalanced and heavy diet and would not 
cost more money. The Doctors offer suggestions for improve- 
ment of sanitation and the medical service which would cost 
more money in the jail, but would probably not cost the 
community more in the long run, since, if poor people became 
diseased in the jail, the County will have to care for many 
of them and their dependents later in the same or other 
institutions — to say nothing of humanitarian reasons. They 
urge more careful examination of prisoners upon entrance 
to the Jail; thorough disinfection of clothing; that clean 
underclothing be furnished following the initial bath; that 
clean sheets be provided for each new prisoner; that 
blankets be cleaned and disinfected at least once a month ; 
and that there should be systematic extermination of the 
vermin in the cells. 

Reasonable Medical Care 

The doctors further recommend immediate abandonment 
of the present wretched hospital walled-off in one of the 
bull-pens and the provision of more suitable quarters in 
other parts of the jail building. Regular provision should 
be made for contagious and mental cases. They advocate 
also the employment of a full-time physician, with one or 
more assistants, who will devote their entire time to looking 
after the inmates of the jail; and the provision of a trained 
pharmacist to replace the trusty who now dispenses pills 
and other drugs. The interesting and practical suggestion 
is further made that the Chicago Institute of Medicine 



should be authorized to appoint a committee of their physi- 
cians who will make quarterly inspection of the jail and make 
a written report to the proper authorities. A similar sug- 
gestion is that a committee of dietitians should be appointed 
to make periodic examination of food conditions and make 
recommendatons in regard to the prisoners' diet. 

Many of these recommendations will be of value, of course, 
not only in the present, but in the proposed new jail as 
well ; or would prove helpful to persons 'responsible for 
or interested in jails everywhere. 

Mr. Lane makes recommendations for improvements in 
daily routine of jail life, to make possible more physical 
exercise and recreation ; opportunity for work, more pro- 
vision for education ; and the serving of food on temporary 
tables in the open bull-pens rather than in the cells. Dr. 
Kirchwey advocates the removal of all persons serving sen- 
tence to the workhouse, a plan which it is said could easily 
be made effective and permanent by the judges of the crim- 
inal court, so that the jail should be used only for detention 
of persons awaiting trial. But probably the most important 
of all the recommendations looking to improvement in admin- 
istration of the present system is that which proposes removal 
of the boys from the jail to a separate institution. 

Separate Detention for Boys 

The recommendation for separate detention of boys 
accused of crime is originally made in the report of Mr. John 
L. Whitman on the Disposal of the Surplus Population of 
the jail. It is believed to be so important that it is adopted 
as one of the miajor and permanent recommendations of the 
entire survey. 

The permanent features of the recommendation will be 
discussed later. The temporary recommendation arose from 
the belief that whatever plans for a new jail may be deter- 
mined upon, it will be some years before the new structure will 
actually be built ready for use and that the wretched and 
demoralizing conditions in the present institution ought 
not to be permitted a moment longer than necessary. Some- 
thing ought to be done at once to relieve the situation. Since 
boys under twenty-one years of age constitute nearly one- 
fifth of the jail population ; since boys of such impressionable 
age are most injuriously affected by the degrading influences 
of such surroundings; since the boys, of all the groups, 
would be most likely to improve in a more healthy and help- 
ful environment, it is recommended that these boys be 
removed as soon as possible from the County Jail and be 



housed in the Old John Worthy School Building, located on 
one corner of the grounds of the city Workhouse at Cali- 
fornia Boulevard and Twenty-Sixth Street. This building,. 
of brick and stone construction, has for some years been out 
of use, but is in a good state of preservation, and at compara- 
tively small expense could easily be adapted to the temporary 
use here proposed. Originally built for use as a reformatory 
for some four-hundred (400) juvenile delinquents, there is 
ample space for dormitories for the two-hundred or more 
boys now kept in the jail, with abundant room for kitchen, 
mess-hall, hospital, school-room, exercise room and other 
facilities. The structure has the further advantage of hav- 
ing an exercise yard lying between one side of the building 
and the workhouse wall. 

The selection of boys who could safely be confined under 
the less severe and restricted conditions of this temporary 
institution is not proposed to be based on age alone. It would 
be a privilege to be determined somewhat on general char- 
acter and good behavior. 

DETENTION OF THE WOMAN OFFENDER 

Women in Cook County accused of crime spend the period 
awaiting trial, if they cannot secure bail, in the Women's 
Quarters of the County Jail or in the various police lock-ups 
scattered over the City. The detention of women offenders, 
whether in jail or lock-ups, has been treated in the survey as 
one problem. The number requiring detention at any one 
time, even in a city the size of Chicago, is not large, and in 
several cities the problem is so handled. 

The women's section in the jail is somewhat more habitable 
than the quarters occupied by men and boys, and much 
smaller. There are thirty-six cells, some of which are occu- 
pied by two women. The cells are about the same size as 
the men's cells, and facilities for good ventilation are like- 
wise lacking. There are two "bull-pens," one of which is 
used for reading and recreation, the other for a dining room. 
The hospital is reasonably light and airy, but lacks toilet 
facilities. In decided contrast with the men's quarters, the 
cells are clean, the floors are kept scrubbed and everything 
presents a spotless appearance. 

Women in Police Stations 

Women's quarters in the various Police Stations are not 
so distinguished, although there has been some recent improve- 
ment and the five stations now used for women are not the 
worst in the City. 



Harrison St. Annex of the South Clark St. Station, 625 S. 
Clark St.; Hyde Park Station, 5223 Lake Park Avenue; 
Stock Yards Station, 4726 S. Halstead St.; South Chicago 
Station. 2938 E. 89th St.; West Chicago Ave. Station, 731 
N. Racine Ave. 

In all of these lock-ups, the quarters set apart for women 
■are mere adjuncts to the detention equipment for men. Their 
total capacity is about fifty women. The quarters are pre- 
sided over by thirty-four (34) matrons, who work on shifts. 
There are no facilities for preparing meals. The regular 
fare of sausage, bread and black coffee is brought in from 
outside. There is no provision for occupation or recreation. 

The total capacity of the women's quarters in all of the 
Police Stations and in the County Jail is about one-hundred 
(100), allowing fifty as the capacity in the jail. The number 
actually held at any one time is not so large, however, the 
population in the jail usually ranging from 25 to 35. Some 
of these are serving sentences, and the survey in every case 
advocates that all persons serving sentences should be corn- 
fined in penal institutions — that the jail should never be 
used as a place of punishment but only for purposes of deten- 
tion. If women serving sentences were eliminated from the 
jail, it is believed that a capacity of thirty in the women's 
quarters would be sufficient. This, together with the capac- 
ity of fifty in the police stations, would give a total capacity 
of eighty, which is believed to be ampje for women's deten- 
tion-quarters in Chicago and Cook County for many years to 
come. A protest is urged against the furnishing of larger 
quarters than necessary. Rather, it is believed that possible 
improvements in criminal procedure and administration of 
justice will considerably reduce the amount of space required. 
"It would manifestly be folly to build and maintain women's 
detention quarters large enough to make the law's delays 
convenient." 

Young Girls from the Country 

Statistics showing the ages of women in jails and lock- 
ups indicate, as is the case among the men, that many of 
them are young people. Some are even below the juvenile 
court age (18 years), and the number under 21, held in the 
jail ranges from 11% to 19% of the total, while the propor- 
tion under 30 years of age ranges from 55% to 65%. Many 
of these young women, it is stated, are from the country. 
The significant fact is reported that from sixty to ninet? 
per cent of cases brought in the Morals Court are those of 
girls coming from small adjacent towns or rural districts. 

17 



First and Petty Offenders 

The type of offenses charged gives added weight to an 
argument for careful classification of women held in deten- 
tion. Even among those who are committed to the County 
Jail are a large number of girls held for/' Violation of Muni- 
cipal Code" — presumably many of them petty mis-deeds 
The most frequent felony charge is larceny ; but of all women 
arrested in Chicago in 1920, 1266 were on felony charges, 
and 6201 were on charges classed as misdemeanors; 48% 
of the latter were charged with disorderdy conduct. Of 
course there are always some among those held who are 
charged with the more serious offenses and a considerable 
proportion (running as high as 33% of those held in the 
jail) who admit having been arrested before — two, three or 
more times. "A woman charged with adultery or the con- 
fidence game, for instance, arrested for the fourth time ; 
or alleged guilty of assault with a deadly weapon or of 
street-walking arrested for the fifth time; or charged with 
larceny or robbery, arrested six or more times — these women, 
experienced in transgression, should clearly not be detained 
in the same quarters with women and girls for whom dis- 
orderly conduct, contempt of court or debt may be their first 
offenses, or with those whose only offense, as entered in 
jail words, is "safe-keeping." 

The diseased condition of many of the women points to 
the necessity not only of classification and segregation ; but 
also of adequate medical and hospital facilities. These should 
be provided at the place of detention, except for those so 
seriously ill as to require bed-side care. 

Separate Detention for Women 

After its careful study of the situation with regard to the 
custody of women accused of crime, the survey adopts and 
approves most heartily a measure which has been urged for 
several years by women's clubs of Chicago, namely, the 
establishment of a separate Detention Home for Women, in 
which should be held all women unable to secure bail and 
awaiting trial, whether in the Municipal or the County 
Courts. Such a detention home should have ample provision 
for segregation of the various classes of inmates, including 
medical and hospital facilities, and should be under the imme- 
diate administration of women alone, with a woman super- 
intendent, having rank equal to that of Police Captain, an 
assistant superintendent with rank of Police Lieutenant, and a 
staff of fifteen matrons. Much of the work of the institu- 
tion should be done by the inmates. The building should 

18 



contain a laboratory for psychopathic and psychiatric 
examination and provision should be made for education, 
particularly in various vocations, and for recreation. 

The survey further recommends that the present Morals' 
Court, a branch of the Municipal Court, be reorganized into a 
Woman's Court, a change which could easily be effected, 
and that this court be located in the Woman's Detention 
Home. Various recommendations in connection with the 
administration of the court are proposed, especially the aboli- 
tion of fines as punshment for sex offenders ; and the revision 
and improvement of the Adult Probation Law. It is believed 
that two court rooms would prove adequate to handle all 
the business of the court. These rooms should be small in 
size, to accommodate only those persons directly concerned 
in the particular case at issue. The building should also 
furnish headquarters for women police, for women probation 
officers and space for State and City Attorneys who appear 
at court hearings. 

With reference to location of the Central Detention Home 
for Women, the use of the present Juvenile Detention Home 
on Gilpin Place near Halsted Street is suggested. Plans are 
presented for adaptation of this building to the use proposed. 
It is believed that the building can at relatively small expense 
be made to furnish all the accommodations needed and that 
it will be adequate for the purpose for many years to come. 



CHICAGO WILL 

"Indifference of the public to jail conditions is re- 
sponsible for Chicago's jail being forty years behind 
the times. But at last the scientific method which has 
revolutionized our hospitals and asylums is making 
inroads in our prisons, and Chicago will doubtless join 
in the procession." 

— Amos W. Butler. 



STATISTICS OF CRIME AND DETENTION- 
HOW LARGE A JAIL IS NEEDED IN COOK COUNTY? 

"In discussing statistics relating to crime," writes Miss 
Edith Abbott in her report, "it is important to understand 
that the vast majority of arrests are arrests of petty offenders. 
* * The police, the courts and all the criminal machinery that 
go with the enforcing the sanctions of the law are largely for 
the punishment of small offenses." 

Statistics compiled from annual reports of the Police 
Department since 1910, indicate in recent years an increase 
in the number of arrests for the more serious offenses (fel- 
onies) with a generally corresponding decrease in arrests for 
misdemeanors. But other statistics show a marked decrease 
in the number of convictions in proportion to the popula- 
tion of the city and the question is raised "Are the police 
making arrests unnecessarily?" Further investigation reveals 
that only 34 out of every hundred charges disposed of in 
1921, resulted in conviction and in 1920, the porportion of 
convictions was only 32 out of every hundred. These figures 
relate to the total number of charges or arrests by the police. 
Figures in regard to the number of charges for felonies alone 
and the number of convictions show that in 1921, less than 
one-fourth of those charged with felonies were convicted. 
"Thus out of every 100 persons who are arrested for serious 
offenses, many of them held to the Grand Jury and degraded 
and poisoned by a period of detention in the county jail, 75 
are not convicted." 

Chicago 25%, London 75% Efficient 

Turning, for comparison, to statistics of arrests and convic- 
tions in London, England and in Canada, Miss Abbott finds 
"that in London in 1919, 76 per cent of the persons tried 
for indictable offenses in the higher criminal courts were con- 
victed and 24 per cent were discharged. In the same year in 
Chicago 29 per cent of the felony cases disposed of resulted 
in convictions and 71 per cent were discharged." In Canada 
in two successive years, 1919 and 1920, "there were for indic- 
table offenses, approximately 80 per cent of convictions and 
20 per cent of acquittals, while in Chicago in the same time 
there were approximately 71 per of dismissals or acquittals 
and only 28 or 29 per cent of convictions." 

"These statistics," Miss Abbott concludes, "present a chal- 
lenge to the thoughtful citizen. Has the administration 
of criminal justice in Chicago become so inefficient or cor- 
rupt or both that out of every hundred felony charges, only 

20 



28 or 29 result In convictions whereas in the courts of Can- 
ada or in England approximately 75 or 80 out of every hun- 
dred persons tried for similar offenses are found guilty. * * A 
high percentage of discharges or acquittals means one of two 
things : Either innocent people are being arrested who must 
be discharged in court or who cannot even be prosecuted 
because there is insufficient evidence against them ; or per- 
sons who are guilty are discharged because of inefficient, 
incompetent or corrupt administration of the machinery of 
criminal justice. In either case, a crime-producing situation 
exists. For innocent men are made criminals through asso- 
ciating with criminals in police stations and jails and courts. 
And in the other case, the uncertainty of punishment, the 
large chances of escape from conviction tempt men to adopt 
or continue criminal careers." 

The Law's Delays 

While Miss Abbott's report deals with the uncertainties 
of justice — the large number of arrests (125,000 a year) and 
the relatively small number of convictions — statistics col- 
lected under direction of Mrs. Rich reveal its delays. The 
latter relate only to persons held in the jail, of whom there 
are more than 10,000 a year. Even among these it is found 
that at least a third, after having run the gamut of the police 
lock-ups, the municipal courts, a period probably of two or 
three weeks in jail awaiting action of the Grand Jury, the 
indictment by the Grand Jury (for most of them), and period 
of additional detention ranging from a few weeks to a year 
or more, will eventually be released. A small proportion of 
these will have been released on refusal of the Grand Jury to 
indict; a very considerable proportion, often more than one- 
half of the entire number released, will be discharged without 
trial ; and of all those finally brought to trial, probably more 
than 10% (or a third of those released) will be acquitted. 
In this situation, Dr. Kirchwey questions the efficiency not 
only of the trial Jury, which often is blamed, but also the 
Grand Jury and the prosecuting attorney, for carelessness in 
indictment, in preparation and presentation of the case. 

As illustrating the length of time persons are held in the 
jail, it is reported concerning cases held on December 1, 
1920, that of 85 dismissed without being brought to trial, 
only ten were confined less than a month, only 24 less than 
two months; forty, or 47%, were in jail over 100 days and 23, 
or 27%, from 150 to 300 days. 

Of 56 brought to trial and acquitted, only two were con- 
fined less than a month and only 14 less than two months. 

21 



Twenty-two, or 40 per cent, were detained over 100 days and 
6, or 10.7 per cent, from 150 days to more than a year. 

Of 404 brought to trial and convicted, only 10 were held 
less than a month and only 80 less than two months. Two- 
hundred and three, over 50 per cent, were confined over 100 
days; 122, or 30 per cent, over 150 days; 79, or 19.5 per cent, 
over 200 days; 51, or 12.6 per cent, over 300 days; and 15 
over 400 days. 

Obviously, improvement in the administration of criminal 
justice in Cook County would greatly reduce the size of 
jail needed. In Detroit, through re-organization and unifica- 
tion of the criminal courts alone, it was found that, whereas 
on March 31, 1920, a few days before the new court took 
effect, there were 173 offenders in jail awaiting trial, of whom 
82, or 47% had been in jail over 25 days, a few 150 days; 
on March 31, 1922, there were 83 prisoners in jail awaiting 
trial and of this number only 7, or 9%, had been in jail over 
25 days. 



PUNISHMENT AWAITING TRIAL 

"Forced confinement in jail, even under decent liv- 
ing conditions, is a bitter experience. Under the 
conditions that prevail in the Cook County jail it is 
cruel, if not unusual punishment. If unnecessarily 
prolonged, it becomes a form of oppression that no 
civilized community would long tolerate * * * The 
chief responsibility for the unjust and oppressive con- 
ditions of delay in bringing jail cases to a speedy de- 
termination rests with the Criminal Court and the 
State's Attorney." 

— Dr. George W. Kirchwey. 



22 



CHARACTER OF THE JAIL POPULATION— WHAT 
KIND OF A JAIL IS NEEDED IN COOK COUNTY? 

It is popularly assumed that all persons committed to 
the jail are vicious criminals — desperadoes of the Tommy 
O'Connor type. 

No such assumption can be sustained by the facts. The 
"vicious criminals," unless accused of murder, can usually, 
under the present system, and promptly secure bail — they 
have both friends and money. It is only the forsaken — the 
poor and friendless — who cannot secure bail and who must 
therefore spend the time awaiting trial in jail. 

Of the 10,642 persons confined in the Cook County jail in 
1921, 2.214 or 20.8 per cent were boys under 21 years of age. 
Eighty-two of these were of Juvenile Court age, one being 
only 13, two 14, eight 15, and the rest (71) 16 years old. 



Young Men Started Wrong 

By far the largest of the age-groups in the jail is made up 
of older boys and young men ranging in age from 21 to 30 
years. It is estimated that more than half of these are under 
25. "Numbering well on toward half of the entire jail popula- 
tion," says Dr. Kirchwey, "they yet belong to the class 
which in most of our states is regarded as reformable." Many 
of them are innocent and many of them are first offenders. 
"It is upon such as these, as well as upon the boys under 21, 
that the blight of jail life falls most disastrously. If the jail 
is not a prison for criminals, it is certainly the gateway to 
the criminal life. This is the pJace, in this motley gathering 
of the innocent and the depraved, where virtue is tarnished 
and vicious tendencies confirmed, and it is here that oppor- 
tunity presents itself, for the last time perhaps, to turn back 
this tide of human derelicts into the ways of decent and hon- 
orable living." 

As to numbers of offenses committed, the statements of 
inmates as entered in the jail records indicated that of all 
those confined in the jail in 1921, 59 per cent were first 
offenders (that is, they had never been arrested before) ; and 
25.3 per cent were second offenders. 

The physical condition of inmates of the jail and the super- 
ficial character of medical examination has been discussed. 
There is total lack of any information as to mental condi- 
tion; notwithstanding the fact that it is known from studies 



elsewhere that a large proportion of any criminal population 
is made up of mentally defective and diseased and that there 
is in many cases an intimate correlation between mental 
defect or psychopathic instability and criminality. 

They Have a Stake in the Community 

Mr. Beeley's "Personal Character Study" of 381 unselected 
cases revealed the interesting fact that 86 per cent had been 
resident in Chicago or Cook County for at least a year. Out 
of 101 cases more thoroughly studied, the school record was 
available in 70 percent of the cases ; the work record was found 
to be available in 92 per cent of the cases; 70 per cent were 
known to one or more registering social agencies and 94 per 
cent were attached to a family or known to neighbors, etc. 
Less than 6 per cent were "waifs" or "strays." Reference 
to these sources of information threw interesting side-lights 
upon the general character of these individuals. The pro- 
portion of workers to "loafers" is not less than 81 to 19, 
and the ratio of steady workers to shifting (but still regular) 
laborers is said to be 42 to 58. Only 17 per cent are married, 
which is not surprising, considering the large proportion of 
boys and very young men in the group. A considerable 
number, perhaps 20 per cent, are described as "well-disposed 
but incompetent." 

From the facts discovered in this character study the sur- 
vey raises the question whether many of the inmates now 
held in the jail might not be released on bail if some less 
extortionate system of providing bail bonds than the present 
system, through the "professional bondsman," could be 
organized. It is suggested even that some inmates could 
safely be released on their own recognizance, in charge of 
their friends, after a personal character study, conducted 
along the same lines as in this survey, had been made and 
the results reported to the judge. In any case, the personal 
character study indicates most clearly that the kind of jail 
Cook County needs is not the place of close confinement for 
all that may be necessary for a few, but that most of the 
inmates could at least be allowed larger freedom within the 
walls of the jail itself, with opportunity to maintain both 
physical and mental health and some measure of self-respect, 
with opportunity for work and recreation, even for self-im- 
provement and reform so that they would be prepared when 
released to go back to their homes and their neighborhoods 
in a better rather than in a worse condition than when they 
entered. 

24 



CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

Some of the conclusions and recommendations of the sur- 
vey have already been mentioned. These, and others, may 
be summarized as follows : 

1. Children of Juvenile Court age should not be confined 
in the County Jail. Ample provision is made for them in 
the Juvenile Detention Home. 

2. It is a crime against youth to hold boys of 17 to 20 
years of age in the County Jail. Something like 2,000 boys 
in Chicago undergo this experience every year. Boys now 
in the jail should be removed at the earliest possible moment 
to the old John Worthy School building and this class should 
be provided for later in a permanent Detention Home for 
Boys, kept entirely separate from the main jail. Four or 
five acres of ground (one block) at least should be allowed 
for this purpose and provision should be made for out-door 
recreation and work. The Boys' Court should be maintained 
in connection with this Detention Home. 

3. The detention of women now held in custody in five 
of the city police lock-ups and in the jail should be provided 
for in a separate Detention Home for Women. A Woman's 
Court, to be re-organized from the present Morals Court, 
should be established in the same building. 

The Central House of Detention 

4. The survey recommends the establishment of an insti- 
tution for detention of men accused of crime, to be known 
as the Central House of Detention rather than by the name 
of "Jail." It should be used as a place of detention only for 
persons awaiting trial and never as a place of punishment. 
Persons convicted of crime should, unless released on proba- 
tion, be committed to the proper penal institutions. It 
should make provision for the proper classification and segre- 
gation of inmates, particularly of the younger men and first 
offenders. It should allow greater freedom in the handling of 
the less dangerous inmates, with opportunity for work and 
out-door recreation. Adequate medical and hospital facilities 
should be furnished and there should be provision also for 
mental examination and study of all inmates in a well- 
equipped psychopathic laboratory. But the very sick and 
the insane should be cared for in outside hospitals. The 
Social Service Bureau of the County should work in connec- 
tion with the institution and should conduct a thorough and 
personal study of each inmate, reporting its findings to the 
jail authorities as an aid in classification ; and to the States' 

25 



Attorney and the Courts as a guide in determining bail or 
release on personal recognizance and final disposition of the 
case. 

An Expectant Attitude 

As to the size and type of building to be erected, the sur- 
vey points out that it would manifestly be a mistake to 
assume for the future anything like the past and present 
ratio between the population of the County and the number 
to be kept in detention to await judicial action. Various 
communities are rapidly reforming the processes of admin- 
istration of criminal justice and these reforms lead to vast 
reductions in the size of the jail populations. Such reforms 
have already been begun in Chicago and much greater pro- 
gress may confidently be expected. Moreover, the survey 
declares, "we are living in a time of unprecedented change in 
our conceptions of the treatment of crime. * * The psychologi- 
cal and psychiatric study of the delinquents, which is now only 
in its infancy, may be expected to equip us with new methods 
of handling an increasingly large percentage of those who 
now find their way into the jail. It would seem, therefore, 
that the present is a time for caution, for an expectant 
attitude and for tentative, rather than for confident, final 
action." 

The survey therefore disapproves the type of jail build- 
ing advocated by some — a monumental structure of great 
architectural impressiveness and cost, permanent and inflex- 
ible in character, and recommends the construction of build- 
ings of a less durable and pretentious type. Instead of one 
building there should be a group of buildings erected on 
a sufficient area of land to provide for the needs of the future 
and to make possible a proper classification and differentiated 
treatment of the inmates. 

Improve the Administration of Criminal Justice 

5. It was not within the scope of the survey, nor possible 
with the time and means at hand, to make an exhaustive or 
thorough study of the administration of criminal justice in 
Cook County. But since the administration of criminal 
justice has so large a bearing on the size and type of jail 
needed the survey could not escape reference to it. Many 
interesting and important facts were discovered in the course 
of the survey, which are discussed in various sections of the 
report and to which some reference has been made in this 
summary. The survey does not presume, on such limited 
investigation, to present comprehensive recommendations for 
improvement in the system, but various suggestions are 



offered — if only as a basis for further discussion. Among 
these may be listed the following-: — 

a. A different conception of the police function, which 
will rate the efficiency of the police, not by the number of 
arrests made but by the crime prevented or the actual num- 
ber of offenders brought to justice. "The machinery of 
justice should be invoked only where the public interest 
clearly demands such action. Most cases of wrong-doing 
are, as a matter of fact, privately adusjusted; * * the police 
should actively cooperate in promoting this adjustment. * * 
It is also to be desired that the police should be invested with. 
more of a protective function." 

b. "The Chicago Municipal Court is the principal gateway 
to the county jail" and there is wide discrepancy between 
the number bound over for trial and the number actually 
brought to trial. "In view of the organization and simpli- 
fied procedure of the Municipal Court it is not unreasonable 
to assume that this number could be materially reduced." 

The State's Attorney 

c. "The office of the States' Attorney of Cook County is 
the most powerful agency of government in the State of 
Illinois. Its control of the machinery of criminal justice, in 
the selection of cases to be tried and the determination of 
the time of trial, is practically unlimited. **In all felony cases 
he represents the State in the Municipal Court and before 
the grand jury, as well as in the Criminal Court. * * It is not 
well that an office of such power should exist in a free com- 
munity without a periodical non-partisan investigation into 
its personnel and methods and into the results of its opera- 
tion." 

d. "The grand jury is itself on trial, with the tide of public 
opinion running strongly against it. In the larger cities it 
is believed to have become little more than a machine for 
registering the will of the States' Attorney in the matter of 
finding indictments." 

e. The bail-bond system is gravely abused. The profes- 
sional bondsman takes big risks, he therefore charges big 
fees. The average amount that must be paid for a bond in a 
felony case is perhaps between $250 and $500. "Jail and 
court attendants, the police, even the prisoners' lawyer are 
among those through whom the bondsman sometimes oper- 
ates." This system works to the advantage of professional 
crooks and against the poor, but more honest man. Some 
system should be organized to furnish bail at reasonable cost 
to the latter and the courts should be given power, which 
they do not now have, to refuse bail to the former. 



A Unified Court 

f. Instead of the bungling and awkward system of various 
courts without a single administrative head, the survey 
commends the plan presented in the proposed new Constitu- 
tion for a unified court. "If this should become effective, 
the lost motion and waste of energy, as well as the conflict 
of jurisdiction, which are characteristic of our present system, 
will be done away with. * * No other plan holds out suffi- 
cient hope of bringing about the coordinated effect which is 
essential to the efficient administration of justice in a great 
city." It is, however, within the power of the Criminal Court 
at present, because of its flexible organization, with proper 
cooperation on the part of the State's Attorney, to keep 
abreast of its calendar and thus keep down the jail population. 

g. As an off-set to the criminal practices of the petty 
"criminal lawyer," who preys upon the poor, giving bad legal 
advice, busying himself as a "fixer" and clogging the wheels 
of justice, the survey suggests, naturally, increased activity 
on the part of the bar association to disbar him, but recom- 
mends as more immediately important either the provision 
by the State of competent legal defense, equal in power and 
authority to the power of the State's Attorney, or that the 
Chicago Bar Association undertake the duty of providing 
such defense. 



LEADERSHIP OF THE BAR 
"You are lawyers . . . your duty is a much larger 
thing than the mere advice of private clients. In 
every deliberate struggle of law you ought to be guides, 
not too critical and unwilling, not too tenacious of the 
familiar technicalities in which you have been schooled, 
not too much in love with precedents and the easy 
maxims which have saved you the trouble of thinking, 
but ready to give disinterested and expert advice to 
those who purpose progress and the readjustment of 
justice. 

"You are servants of the public, of the state itself. 
It is your duty to advise those who make its laws; to 
advise them in the general interest with a view to the 
amelioration of every undesirable condition that the 
law can reach, in lightening of every burden law can 
lift and the righting of every wrong the law can 
rectify." 

— Woodrow Wilson to American Bar Association, 
1910, quoted in The Cleveland Crime Survey. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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